


An Easy Death

by pantswarrior



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Phoenix Wright Kink Meme, Post-Canon, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-21
Updated: 2012-08-21
Packaged: 2017-11-12 15:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/492673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantswarrior/pseuds/pantswarrior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phoenix goes to visit Kristoph in prison, where an unusual observation leads to a morbid discussion - and a parting gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Easy Death

The visiting room was cold. The hallway had been cold too, for that matter. Phoenix was glad he'd worn the jacket, despite the season; in his experience, government buildings often tended to overdo it with the climate control, so you might as well dress for it.

The man sitting on the other side of the table, in a jumpsuit with his number on the breast (grey, not orange, and somehow that was a relief - orange wouldn't have suited him), didn't look so comfortable as Phoenix was. His arms were tight around his torso, and he was trembling. Now that they'd taken away his tailored suits, put him in the same garb as any other prisoner, it was more obvious that he'd lost weight since his initial imprisonment. He'd lose more now, Phoenix thought. Soon he'd be skin and bones, since they'd moved him somewhere else, more severe, and he'd lost the sympathy of the guards and fellow prisoners that he had once taken advantage of. Life would be harder for him. And then, well...

That was as it should be, Phoenix reminded himself. This was fair, this was just. Or as close as you could get to something like fairness or justice, when the wrong couldn't be righted. No amount of retribution would bring back the dead - only even the tally.

He wondered vaguely if his mere presence was unbalancing the scales, to be honest. The man had done enough to him, and to the people he loved, and he would have done more if Phoenix hadn't helped to stop him. Phoenix wasn't foolish enough to think that this was likely to change, especially now that he was here, looking at a snarl he'd never seen in all those long years.

"Why are _you_ here?" Kristoph spat. "To rub my nose in it, perhaps? To laugh and point?"

Phoenix shook his head. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up. I know life's a little different here..."

"You think so?" Kristoph inquired sarcastically. "The most obvious difference would be that this facility has nothing to do with 'life' - only with death. What use, to comfort those corpses who have simply yet to stop moving?"

He was trembling harder. Phoenix paused. "...Are you scared?"

Kristoph snorted. "Why would you ask such a thing?"

"You're shaking."

Kristoph sighed, short and tight. "I'm _freezing_ , Wright. This apparel is clearly designed for the natural climate of southern California - yet the authorities have apparently seen fit to model this wing after winter in Siberia." He huddled closer into himself, his chin against his chest. "...I'll likely freeze to death before the needle ever pierces my skin, and save them the trouble."

Phoenix scratched his head idly, through the hat he had gotten in the habit of wearing. "Well... I guess it wouldn't be the worst way to go."

"I've heard," Kristoph remarked, "that freezing is an easy death. Supposedly you feel very tired, and then when you can't stay awake any longer, you simply go to sleep, and don't wake up. Not far removed from the series of injections that await me," he muttered, his gaze on the table between them. "Or so I hear. Anything that causes severe pain would run counter to the statutes prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment - but it's not as if anyone can tell us for certain afterwards."

Not without involving the Fey family, Phoenix thought irreverently. Maya could have cleared it up. But that was beside the point; despite Kristoph's denial, he was scared. Phoenix could tell. And though that too was fair, given all the fear and pain and grief Kristoph had caused for others... Phoenix still hated to see it.

Which was why, all of a sudden, he reached up and pulled the knit hat from his head, offering it.

Kristoph looked at the hat in his hand, then up at Phoenix's face in disgust. " _What_ do you think you're doing, Wright?"

"You're cold," Phoenix said simply. "I'm not. And I don't need this anymore."

"Are you mad?" Kristoph picked at a worn bit of yarn at the edge of the hat, then pushed Phoenix's hand away. "You must be, if you think I would wear something so ridiculous."

"No one's going to see you wearing it."

" _I_ would," Kristoph pointed out. "In the mirror."

Kristoph hadn't looked in a mirror since his sentencing, Phoenix was sure of it. He hadn't even been taking care of his nails. Phoenix dangled the hat towards him again, jiggling it slightly. "It might look silly, but it's really warm..."

"I will _not_ wear that hideous hat," Kristoph stated firmly. "No matter how cold it gets on death row."

"I beg to differ." Phoenix stood abruptly, leaning over the table and just tugging the hat down over Kristoph's hair. His ears _were_ cold, he observed as he withdrew his hands.

Kristoph stared after him, apparently too startled to object or to reach up himself and remove the offensive accessory, as Phoenix straightened and stepped around his chair, starting for the door. "...Why, Wright?"

"Freezing to death, lethal injection, whatever," Phoenix told him with a faint smile. "I don't think there's such a thing as a painless death, if you're dying alone."

There was a soft noise of disgust as he turned his back, and after the guard had let him out, Phoenix peered back through the one-way glass on the door to find that Kristoph had pulled the hat from his head and tossed it on the floor. But then, as Phoenix watched, his gaze drifted back to it, as if drawn... and finally Kristoph leaned down to pick it up, holding it in his hands and just staring at it.

Whether Kristoph ever put it on again or not, Phoenix thought, at least he might have gotten something out of it.


End file.
